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Mental Health and Psychosocial Care Infertility Distress

The Relationship Between Infertility, Stress, and Quality of Life with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Infertile Women

Roozitalab S, Rahimzadeh M, Mirmajidi SR, Ataee M, Esmaelzadeh Saeieh S

Published October 2021 Journal of Reproduction & Infertility
DOI 10.18502/jri.v22i4.7654 PMID 34987990 PMC PMC8669410

RRM Academy Synopsis

PTSD symptoms affected 41.3% of women at an Iranian infertility clinic

About 4 out of 10 infertile women at one Iranian clinic had PTSD symptoms. The survey covered 172 women. Higher PTSD scores went with lower quality of life and more infertility stress. Treatment type and counseling showed no link to PTSD scores.

Key Findings

  • The study included 172 infertile women at Qafqaz Infertility Center in Ardabil Province, Iran, split into four groups of 43.
  • 41.3% of the 172 infertile women had PTSD symptoms.
  • Higher PTSD scores went with lower quality of life and with higher infertility stress (r=0.56, p<0.001 for stress).
  • Type of treatment (p=0.548) and psychological intervention (p=0.450) showed no significant relationship with PTSD scores in a two-way ANOVA.
  • Quality of life and infertility stress together predicted 37.3 % of the changes in PTSD scores in a linear regression.

Interpretation

This cross-sectional survey studied 172 infertile women at one Iranian clinic. PTSD symptoms were linked with lower quality of life and higher infertility stress. The authors note that the psychological intervention each woman received was not standardized. They call for further studies with clearer protocols. The findings support larger studies of PTSD and its drivers in infertility care.

RRM Context

The paper notes that social bias blames women for infertility, even when the man is the cause. The study only included women. RRM checks both partners and looks for the cause. Unexplained infertility is undiagnosed infertility.

Our editorial summary of this paper, not the article's abstract.

Abstract

Background

The infertility experience and its treatment are accompanied by the symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The aim of this study was determining the relationship between posttraumatic stress disorder and quality of life and the infertile women's stress.

Methods

In this descriptive-analytic study, 172 infertile women were divided in four groups. Convenience sampling was done and eligible infertile women referred to Qafqaz Infertility Center in Iran were included in the study. The data was collected between January and March 2019 through posttraumatic stress disorder checklist, The Fertility Quality of Life (FertiQoL) questionnaire, and Newton's infertility stress questionnaire. Pearson correlation, linear regression analysis, and two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were applied for data analysis with a significance level of 0.05.

Results

The results of two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that there was no significant relationship between the type of treatment (p=0.548) and the reception of psychological intervention (p=0.450). In addition, the results of Pearson correlation showed that there was an inverse significant relationship between the total score of posttraumatic stress disorder and quality of life (r=-0.91, p<0.001) and a direct relationship between the total score of posttraumatic stress disorder and level of stress (r=0.56, p<0.001).

Conclusion

The results of this study showed that 41.3% of the infertile women had the symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder. Due to the relationships of posttraumatic stress disorder with the quality of life and infertility stress, providing regular designed psychological interventions is recommended for infertile individuals.

Topics

Related research

Mental Health and Psychosocial Care › Infertility Distress › Anxiety and Depression in Infertility
Sahar Roozitalab, Mitra Rahimzadeh, Seyed Roghieh Mirmajidi, Mina Ataee, Sara Esmaelzadeh Saeieh
S Roozitalab, M Rahimzadeh, S Mirmajidi, M Ataee, S Saeieh
PMID 34987990 34987990 DOI 10.18502/jri.v22i4.7654 10.18502/jri.v22i4.7654 Roozitalab et al. 2021, Roozitalab 2021

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